ENHANCING WATER AND FERTILIZER SAVING WITHOUT COMPROMISING RICE YIELD THROUGH INTEGRATED CROP MANAGEMENT
<p>Water and fertilizer scarcity amid the increasing need of rice</p> <p>production challenges today’s agriculture. Integrated crop management</p> <p>(ICM) is a combination of water, crop, and nutrient</p> <p>management that optimizes the synergistic interaction of these</p> <p>components aiming at improving resource use efficiency, i.e.</p> <p>high productivity of water, land, and labor. The objectives of</p> <p>the study were to investigate the effects of crop establishment</p> <p>method, organic matter amendment, NPK management, and</p> <p>water management on yield of lowland rice. Five series of</p> <p>experiments were conducted at Sukamandi and Kuningan</p> <p>Experimental Stations, West Java. The first experiment was</p> <p>focused on crop establishment method, i.e. plant spacing and</p> <p>number of seedlings per hill. The second, third, and fourth</p> <p>experiments were directed to study the effect of NPK and</p> <p>organic matter applications on rice yield. The fifth experiments</p> <p>was designed to evaluate the effect of water management on rice</p> <p>yield. Results showed that 20 cm x 20 cm plant spacing resulted</p> <p>in the highest grain yield for the new plant type rice varieties.</p> <p>Organic matter and P fertilizer application did not significantly</p> <p>affect grain yield, but the yield response to P fertilization</p> <p>tended to be stronger with organic matter amendment. Split P</p> <p>application did not significantly increase grain yield. The use</p> <p>of a scale 4 leaf color chart reading resulted in a considerable N</p> <p>fertilizer saving without compromising rice yield. Intermittent</p> <p>irrigation technique saved water up to 55% without affecting</p> <p>yields, resulting in a 2-3 times higher water productivity.</p>